Forced-feed furnace-grate.



. SIMMONS FORCED FEED FURNACE GRATE.

APPLICATION 'FILED N0\ I.29, 1915.

t m m M 1 A; W In." P4 8 D n H H 68 m3 G l a P L. H. SIMMONS.

FORCED FEED TFURNACE- arms.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29' 19 115.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 'lmwm Lee Hon acct 6, 7Z6

LJH. SIMMONS. FORCED FEED FURNACE G RATE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-29.1915.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3 Ill! Wzzmmmmm ialii avwamfoz Lee fiawaccl ,Y

LEE H. SIMMONS, on wt'mMINGToN, NoRTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR To SIMMONSFORCED DRAFT COMIPANY, or GoLDsBoRo, NORTH CAROLINA, A CORPORATION orNORTH v cARoLrN'A.

FORCED-FEED FURNACE-GRATE.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

Application filed November 29, 1915. Serial Nd. 64,109.

To allwlzom itmay'concem." w v Be it known that I, LEE HOWARD SIM- MoNs,a-citizen of the United States, and a resident of Wilmin on, county ofNew Hanover, and State North Carolina, have made and invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Forced-Feed Furnace- Grates, of whichfication. V p Y My invention relates to a new and useful the followingis a speciimprovement in grates and more particuthe larger form ofcoalmay be also advantageously burned. The bed is. practically solidwith the exception of relatively small air spaces or openings, and whichopenings are so small that little or no fuel will drop therethrough.However to remove any minute ashes or dust that shift through theseopenings, means are provided for simultaneously clearing the inside 'ofeach grate bar, so that the bars will not become choked or clogged,which would seriously interferewith the-draft, In a grate of this type,'it is highly necessary that the forced air draft reach allparts of thegrate as the heat on top of the bars is very high and the grate bars areno thicker than absolutely necessary, therefore a manifold is providedwherein the air is admitted cen-.

trally to all of the grate bars, and is so bafiled that the air is asnearly as possible equally distributed to all portions of the gratebars.

An object of my invention is to provide a grate consisting of aplurality of grate bars wherein any number of bars may be installeddepending on the desired heating area and wherein the bottom of theseveral as forced draft bars may be dropped simultaneously to clean thesame. a Another object of my invention is to provide a grate of theclass described wherein n means. are provided for rocking the bottoms ofthe several. bars although the specific form mentioned forms thesubject-matter of a separateapplication, filed of even date herewith. Iv

Still another object of my invention is to provide a manifold on whichone end of each grate bar rests, and which manifold is provided with alongitudinally extending baffle plate and a pair of anti-clinal walls,so that the forced draft will be as equally distributed as possible tothe several grate bars and which. manifold is also an improvement overthe form of manifold shown and described in the application beforereferred to by me.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a grate in which thebars positioned at the side of the grate are of a difl'erentconstruction than those shown in the central. portion and in which theopenings therein are located not only on the top surface thereof, aswith the other bars, but also have openings in an inclined surface, sothat the forced draft may not only enter below the fire bed but willalso shoot or be forced across the surface of the fire to readily mixwith the gases of combustion and in this manner assist them to consume agoodly portion of the smoke which would otherwise be emitted from thechimney. In

fact, with the improved construction to be hereinafter described I havefound that it is not necessary to provide any additional smoke consumer,as the same is so readily used and the discharge of smoke so small thatit will easily comply with any of the strict enforcements in regard toprohibiting dense smoke from chimneys, now in force in many differentStates.

Still other objects of my invention is to provide a grate of relativelyfew parts, consisting of a series of hollow grate bars, the barspositioned at the side of the said grate being of a novel form andconstruction, so

that the air will enter below and at the sides of the fire bed; also toprovide a very effective manifold; and means for disposing of the ashesor dust that may sift into the said grate bars.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in certainnew andnovel features of construction and combination of parts, as willbe hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the-accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, and inwhich like letters of reference denote similar parts, Figure l is a topplan view of my improved form of grate, nace being in section. Fig. 2 isa transverse sectional view of the improved grate and Fig. 3 is alongitudinal sectional view of the same. Fig. 4 is a longitudinalsectional view of one half of the manifold, the

other half beingidentical with that shown.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of one half of the manifold, the other halfbeing likewise similar and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the form ofgrate bars that is positioned at the side of the said grate.

, Referring now to Fig. 1 it will be seenthat the grate is composed orformed of a plurality of grate bars 1 which form a front and rearwardseries 2 and 3, however the four side grate bars 4:, 5, 6 and 7 are of adifferent shape and contour, as will be explained as the descriptionproceeds. More bars similar to bars 1 may be added if a greater heatingarea is desired, the side bars simply being moved over so that they willalways be positioned at the sides.

The adjacent ends of the grate bars 1 and the bars l, 5, 6 and 7 rest ona manifold 8, which may be a casting of any sufiicient height andstrength. and has provided in its upper surface a plurality of nipplesor openings 9 on which fit in holes 10 provided on one end and lowersurfaceojf each and every ate bar.

It will be noticed (Fig. 3) that the front series 2 of the grate barshave their forward portions raised or at an inclined angle to theremainder of .the upper surface and the rearward series are simply flatthroughout their heating surface, the raised portion assisting in thefiring of the same. Each bar of both series is preferably a solidcasting and with the exception of the side grate bars 4, 5, 6 and 7 aresubstantially triangular in cross section, the side walls extendingdownwardly and inwardly.

The upper surfaces of the grate bars 1 are provided with a plurality ofrelatively small air passages, the same being only large enough topermit the requisite amount of air to the fire, it being desirable tokeep them the outside wallsof the fur-' as small as possible, so as toprevent much dust and ashes from falling through the said opening intothe center portion of the grate bars. I

Hinged to the under portion of each bar is a door 11 which is providedwith a lug 12 which in turn is connected to a longitudinal shaft 13,which is moved by the arins 14 located on a shaft 15. The peculiarconstruction however of the manner of beveling the side walls and theconstruction of the bottom door formsthe subject-matter of a separateapplication filed on even date herewith. The manifold 8 extendstransversely of the said grate bars and is preferably supported in themiddle by a suitable form of standard 16, and each end of the saidmanifold is provided with a plate 19 to which is bolted or otherwisesecured the air chute or inlets 21 and 22. The manifold is also providedat each end with a baffle plate 23' which extends over the air chutesand for a short distance longitudinally-of said manifold so that the,air in passing from the fan 2& which is located preferably at the sideof the furnace will be distributed not only to the openings nearest thechute but also to the other openings throughout-the length of themanifold. The manifold is also divided transversely by a wall 25 and thelower wall 26 of said manifold is not constructed parallel with theupper surfacabut at an angle thereto, the area of said manifolddecreasing .from the ends toward the center thereof.

Formed on each side of said manifold and nearly throughout its lengthare the wings 27, the under surface of this wing being parallel with theupper surface of the said manifold. and directly beneath the saidtransverse wall 25 the said wings 27 are enlarged to form. the lugs 28,which are provided with openings 29, so that a bar may be passedtherethrough to fasten the same to the aforementioned standard 16.

By constructing this manifold with a decreasing area toward the centerand providing abaflle plate at each end over the am opening and atransversewall, an equally distributed supply of air is obtained, whichis absolutely necessary, as if any port-ion of the said grates did notreceive their requisite amount of air they would soon become burnt outand rendered useless.

Referring now especially to the description of the side bars it will beeen thattwo of these are placed on each si e of the assembled grate andthat the two forward ones are similar to the two rearward ones, with theexception that their front ends decline toward the center similarly tothe other front and rearward series of the grate bars angle to the topsurface 30, and is providedbut furthermore a simple means is undersurface,

. the

1. These four side bars 4, 5, 6 and 7 are also likewise provided withnipples on their to register with the openings in the manifold. The barsat the left hand of the series however having the nipples disposed atthe opposite ends from those of the right hand series. These sidebarsare somewhat similar to the bars 1 with theexception that at one side ofthe top surface there is formed a wall that extends upwardly about eightinches to thereby form a surface or face 31. This wall is set at anydesirable with a plurality of small openings 32, similar to the openingsin'the' surface 30, also at the top formed another relatively smallsurface 33 which may be slightly inclined to the surface 31, or may bemade parallel with the surface 30 and this surface is also provided withsimilar openings 34 to protect the same from the heat and to protect thebar should the fire extend to the top of the side wall or. surface 31.-It is not desired however and the top of the fire bed should neverextend as high as the top of the inclined wall or surface 31, as theforced air draft should rush through these openings 32 over the top ofthe fire, mixing with the combustible gases and in this way consume andburn up the black smoke that would ordinarily escape from the chimney.The openings 34 in the extreme top surface also permit the air to mixwiththe gases as well as protecting the upper part of the bars from theheat.

By providing an inclined surface 31 at sides of the grate the brick'walls are greatly protected, as heretofore in many instances it wasnecessary at short intervals to renew the walls of a furnace directly atthe sides of the grate.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the, larger part of thegrateportion might be made up of any preferable form of hollow gratebars, and by providing the side bars as constructed and shown herewith,not only will the grate contain derived from the use of hollow gratebars rovided for increasing the combustion direiitly over the fire andgreater part of the smoke, and at the same time the side Walls of thefurnace are greatly protected. It will be understood that these sidebars might be changed in shape slightly, the gist of the idea howeverbeing that a surface is provided at an incline to the top surface andthrough which is allowed a forced draft to enter over the fire, as wellas under, and also to have the grate protect the side walls of thefurnace. Many slight changes may also be made in of this inclinedsurface may be all 'the advantageswhich will consume a.

the grate and manifold and in the different bars without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention what ters Patent is I 1. A gratecomprising a plurality of hollow grate bars, said bars provided withinlets and top air outlets, a manifold provided with air inlets at itssaid manifold provided with air outlets I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letregistering with the air inlets in said hollow grate bars,a transverse wall in the center of said manifold and downwardlydepending lugs on the said manifold for supporting the same, the crosssectional area of opposite ends, and.

said grate bars provided wall at the center thereof and. means formedbeneath the said transverse wall for supporting said manifold, the crosssectional area of'said manifold decreasing from the ends toward thecenter and means for supplying the said manifold with air.

3. A grate comprising a plurality of hollow grate bars provided withpivotal bottoms and means for rocking simultaneously the said bottoms, amanifold extending transversely of said grate bars for supplying air tothe same and supporting the inner adjacent ends thereof, grate bars atthe side of said grate having a pivotal bottom and inclined surfacesabove the level of the fire bed, and provided with openings todistribute air above the said fire bed, the transverse area of the wallsof said side bars being substantially the same.

4. A grate comprising a plurality of hollow intermediate grate bars,having air inlets and outlets, hollow side bars, having air inlets, saidintermediate and side grate bars provided with pivotal bottoms, andmeans for rocking simultaneously the bottoms of said intermediate andsaid side grate bars, a manifold extending transversely of all of saidgrate bars for supplying air to the same and supporting the inneradjacent ends thereof, the said side bars extending above the level ofthe fire bed and provided with openings to distribute air above the saidfire bed.

5. A grate comprising a plurality of hollow intermediate grate barshaving air inlets and top air outlets, a plurality of hollow side barsalso provided with air inlets, said 7 above said fire bed and the airspace of said side bars being relatively greater than the air space ofsaid intermediate bars.

Signed at Goldsboro and State of North 15 Carolina, this 16th day ofNovember, A. D. 1915.

LEE H. SIMMONS.

Witnesses:

C. V. STIEWEY, E. M. LAND.

